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Topic ClosedShould politics return to Prog music?

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 16 2014 at 15:40
I prefer instrumental music so no.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 16 2014 at 15:41
Politics, sex, religion, if it's honest is ok.  
Curiosity killed a cat, Schroedinger only half.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 16 2014 at 15:48
Phil Collins did some heart felt song about homelessness.  Adding, as long as they didn't tax him any more to try and help these losers. 
Help me I'm falling!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 16 2014 at 16:50
Originally posted by akamaisondufromage akamaisondufromage wrote:

Phil Collins did some heart felt song about homelessness.  Adding, as long as they didn't tax him any more to try and help these losers. 


Phil Collins ruined homelessness.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 16 2014 at 16:53
Originally posted by zravkapt zravkapt wrote:


Originally posted by akamaisondufromage akamaisondufromage wrote:

Phil Collins did some heart felt song about homelessness.  Adding, as long as they didn't tax him any more to try and help these losers. 

Phil Collins ruined homelessness.


Yep. It used to be so cool to live out in the elements, exposed to criminals and wild animals, hunger, lack of medical care, lack of personal hygiene. And then Phil went and took all the fun out of it.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 16 2014 at 19:10
LOLLOLBig smileLOLLOLClap
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 16 2014 at 19:10
People have always written songs about politics, Prog is no exception. What do you mean by politics?
The world of sound is certainly capable of infinite variety and, were our sense developed, of infinite extensions. -- George Santayana, "The Sense of Beauty"
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 16 2014 at 19:37
Originally posted by zravkapt zravkapt wrote:

As long as the music moves me I don't give a Censored what the lyrics are about. It is not an accident that most of the music I listen to is either instrumental or sung in a language I don't understand. You got something important to say, write a book.


Haha! I totally agree however a album with brilliantly written lyrics are definately a plus. Just not required
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 16 2014 at 19:38
c´mon i mean hey, politics are so 3 dimensional, rational and fear-driven..

let´s stick to the fairytales they´re much more real and closer to truth Heart
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 16 2014 at 19:48











[QUOTE from Progosopher]People have always written songs about politics, Prog is no exception. What do you mean by politics?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    The Roman Emperor Tiberius once stated "It dosen't matter what I think politics means. It only matters as to what the people think politics means!" Perhaps you should reflect on this statement o' philosopher. It might help you in your long search for the truth. Wink











Edited by SteveG - June 19 2014 at 11:13
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 16 2014 at 22:09
Originally posted by Nogbad_The_Bad Nogbad_The_Bad wrote:

As long as it's left wing and anti religion, I don't think I could listen to Teabagging God Fearing stuff.


Originally posted by SteveG SteveG wrote:

...or should Prog music remain an escapist or purely aesthetic medium devoid of any social and political commentary?

Escapism is sometimes a great vehicle for metaphor, political or otherwise. It's also very effective in avoiding biases that listeners may bring with them. Who brings any personal prejudices to Get 'Em Out By Friday ??
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 17 2014 at 03:15
If we disregard the ramifications of digital media and the internet with regards marketing, distribution and sales (yes I know, it's a huge askPinch) was there any other industry in the developed world hitherto that epitomized the wet dream of capitalism so perfectly as the music industry? It always makes me smile to listen to terminally 'right on' luvvies like Weller, Strummer, Costello, Waters, Wyatt, Bragg et al rail against a system that if dismantled would return them to the obscurity and poverty they strove so hard to escape and profess to abhor while sealing their mouthpiece for lucrative dissent forever. If musicians were credibly serious about having a politicised agenda, they might stand for election, write manifestos rather than triple concept albums, do volunteer charity work or join one of the main political parties as a foot-soldier. Yes, they can compose a soundtrack to their activities by all means but such ain't a substitute for action. Politics is action, activism, doing stuff, really un-sexy, unglamorous, exhausting, tedious door to door drudgery and sometimes dangerous sh*t, not what we're doing here (myself included and just as guilty) - sitting around talking, doing squat.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 17 2014 at 03:44
^ That begs an interesting point about experience and its importance to writing, whether lyrics or prose.   If you don't live it, there won't be much to write about.   It's why I think guys like Hemingway dove into the abyss; it wasn't macho, he needed material.

"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."   -- John F. Kennedy
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 17 2014 at 09:37
I'm not usually a political person. However, I am in favor of the least amount of government interference as humanly possible. I guess you could call me a traditional conservative. Thank God that our constitutional rights allow us to create art about anything we want to. I think people should write music about anything that moves them.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 17 2014 at 09:55
Originally posted by SteveG SteveG wrote:

When Marillion released their album titled Sounds That Can't Be Made last year, it contained the controversial track Gaza which addressed one of the long standing Middle Eastern controversies. With more than ten years to reflect on the events of 9/11, two Gulf wars and world wide economic and social divides; would you like to see more of these topics addressed in the lyrics of Prog music songs (even if they are controversial) or should Prog music remain an escapist or purely aesthetic medium devoid of any social and political commentary?
 
There is not a whole lot more political commentary than 21st Century Schizoid Man!
 
And PG, in "Selling England by the Pound" took his shots at the PM ... !!!
 
Politics, in many ways, is one of the biggest front runners of a revolution and idealism that helps create a lot of art, and that includes music. If you look at the history of art (painting) it even has a "Nationalistic" section under "Romantic Art" in the 1800's.
 
It all depends on how well/much we want to learn from it. The French Revolution is known to have helped hugely with the development of Gothic Literature, though it had its start a bit earlier with Horace Walpole, but the blood running in the streets of Paris appears to have been heard much further around the world, no to mention its arts, specially literature.
 
So, to your answer, yeah ... without it, I think that a lot of us would find things rather mundane and spirit-less and not worth fighting for. I imagine that these have to be "universal" themes (I hate using academic terms!!!!!), so that we all can see it and such!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 17 2014 at 09:55
Originally posted by KingCrInuYasha KingCrInuYasha wrote:

Does Frank Zappa's stuff count?
 
No kidding!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 17 2014 at 10:04
Originally posted by SteveG SteveG wrote:

 ...
I agree with you on all counts. Not all prog bands could pull it off, but enough could. I was a bit tongue-in-cheek about Zappa's views which are not relevant to the discussion.
 
Considering the guy even went to Washington DC, and you can see it on the tube ... that's a rather strange observation. Frank was not the politically correct hippocrit of an artist today, and was pretty straight forward with his opinions, many times, not just once.
 
But we love Overnight Sensation, not anything else!


Edited by moshkito - June 17 2014 at 10:04
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 17 2014 at 10:12

The Knife is a great political song, a beautiful satire. So, political songs in the progressive rock, why not?

After all, in prog, as any other art form aswell,  the most impotartant thing is not "what" - it's a matter of "how".
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 17 2014 at 10:14
So who's going to add the politics to prog music?    Confused
If the artist wants to add some political lyrics...they will. Personally as long as the music is good and the lyrics not too silly I don't care what the 'politics' are or if they are opposite to mine.
 
 
 
Cream had something to say on this:Wink
 
 
 
One does nothing yet nothing is left undone.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 17 2014 at 11:06
Originally posted by Nogbad_The_Bad Nogbad_The_Bad wrote:

As long as it's left wing and anti religion, I don't think I could listen to Teabagging God Fearing stuff.


Truer words have never been said...for me at least...I can't even deal with Neal Morse...

There are some other examples...3rd Degree's The Long Division springs to mind, as does GG's The Power and The Glory, Tull's Under Wraps (more geopolitics than 'political'), plenty of Floyd...

There is a difference between writng and singing about politics, or philosophy, and being 'political'

I doubt I would appreciate a 6-part epic on how cutting taxes creates growth (to fit in with the 'high fantasy' aspect of some prog), but a study in political corruption or personal political journeys might be of interest
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